Gophers have 3 rivalry trophies for first time in 48 years

Good morning, everybody. Thanks for being here. Two things. One, Thursday is our traditional, every year we do our Hope Kids trick-or-treat event with our players. So that'll be Thursday, which we're really looking forward to. I know our players take that very seriously. All four floors, which is pretty cool. And players dress up and create an elite experience for so many kids at Hope Kids. So really excited about that with Halloween coming up. Second, just want to thank all of our alum, our fans, our band, our student section, everybody who came to our game and supported us, everybody who followed us on TV. That's what makes college football really special, our rivalry games. And not only rivalry games, rivalry wins. Not only rivalry wins, but field stormings. And not only field stormings, but homecoming and alumni. That's the pageantry of college football. Sometimes you're on the winning end of that, sometimes you're not. But we're very grateful to be on the winning end of that. Kids did enough to win the football game in all three phases. And I'm really proud because that's a typical, you know, We've beat them two times the last four years, 12-10 and 13-10. I mean, there's some baseball scorers that are like that. And just really, really proud of our guys, their resiliency, and their resolve to find a way to win that football game. So got to give Iowa a lot of credit. They're a really good football team. It's hard to beat them. I think everybody understands that for so many years. And when I said that you had Iowa-Iowa, that's really Minnesota football. You had to win the ball, had to tackle well, and you had to have explosive plays and limit them. And when we didn't, the game was really close. When we did, we were starting to pull away. But we made one more play than they did, you know, especially with the three minutes to go. When you look at how close that game was, back and forth, back and forth. And we made the play and got the win. And Floyd of Rosedale is back home here in Minnesota. So he's in his pen over there in the trophy room. So he's all set. So with that, we'll open it up for questions. D.J., obviously special teams were huge. Blocked punt, two field goals, the game winner. How do you kind of summarize what DDP has meant to that entire unit? Yeah, I think he's just done a great job of making it his own. And I think that, you know, everybody's fighting to be on special teams. And I think that just shows the power of your coordinator and the person. And, you know, we have a team meeting every day, and then he's right after me, right? So I just love how he takes the message of whatever it is from the head coach and pulls it right into special teams and then does it in his own way. And you talk about guys wanting to be on the field for him, for each other. He does a great job of connecting the entire culture through special teams. He's got a very unique style to him. And what I love about it is it's himself, and he's making it his own, but bringing everything within the program into his special teams meetings and doing it his way. But he believes in the players. They believe in him, believe in what we do and how we do it. We're not perfect. We're not going to be perfect. But, you know, so fun all throughout the week. I mean, what a great call on the block punt. But, you know, we thought the other two were going to block it. But we said, don't be surprised if, you know, Naeem or Nestor, you don't block it. And then we come right through the middle and get the block. And then the fumble recovery. So Mason Carey did a great job because it wasn't designed for him. But the way they blocked it up, if you're playing your butt off, you would be the guy that does it. And Mason was. So we talked about how we played. Forget the result. Forget the scoreboard. Forget everything else for 60 minutes. Six minutes of, you know, six minutes of football. six seconds at a time, play your absolute best. And I can say this, as hard as we've played, I can say we did that. That was an objective, whether we won or lost, that checked the box. And special teams was a big piece of that. And I thought Javon Tracy did a great job in the return game. You know, their punter had some really good punts that, above his average, did a great job, baseball turning, getting square on the ball, getting some hidden yardage, and making some really good, decisive decisions back there, too, which really helped us. it kind of gets lost in the stat sheet because there's not a bunch of stats, but really saved us in field position, too. But, you know, special teams, when you play rivalry games, it always comes down to that somehow, some way. And I thought that was a big positive for us. So you go with more of a running back by committee approach in this one with as much Xavier Ford as we've seen, some off the plate to Darius. What went into that decision? Yeah, I think we've got multiple tailbacks that can all play. I think they all have different skill sets. And, again, I think we can keep them all fresh and rolling. And I think that's, as we keep playing, the more and more they keep playing, the more you see that they can do and what they can do. But I thought Darius did a really good job. I thought Xavier played his best game of the year. As a young player, he's only going to keep getting better as he grows. And then TJ had some opportunities in there too. But they're a really good defense. It's hard to run the football against them. But you're doing what you have to do based on how the flow of the game is going. And you're not saying, okay, we don't want to run the ball or we don't want to lose two yards here. You're not saying that. but you've got to stay with it. And part of it's the whole plan of that 60 minutes, how you're going to manage that. And they have their philosophies. We have our philosophies. And I thought all three of those guys played really tough. How would you assess your defensive line's play? I thought they got after it. You know, I think when our D-line's at their best, they're active, they're strong, you know, they're dominating their gap, they're violent, disengaging, making plays, and then freeing up those backers. And we're going to need that this week. I mean, playing the defending national champs, and they're good in every phase. I mean, maybe the best in the country almost at every phase. But I thought they played incredibly hard. You know, we're banged up there. We got some guys out. But I tell you what, those guys step in, step up, and we didn't miss a beat there. And we're going to have to keep doing that. You know, I've said this publicly, and I've told our football team that. You know, if you include Iowa, it's the hardest schedule in the country for the next six. We just got one down, went 1-0 in that, and now we got five more starting with the defending national champions. It doesn't get any easier. It gets harder throughout the entire season. So what a great challenge and an opportunity for our players and our coaching staff and our team. We have a very demanding, tough schedule, and look forward to playing that starting this week. But our guys up front, I mean, they play with incredible how and did that whole 66 and six seconds thing. I mean, it was pretty special. That law of the six was very important, plus six days of prep. So we kept talking about this law of sixes that we'll continue to talk about all throughout the rest of the year. But we play our best. We're playing incredibly hard with Howe, and when we haven't, we haven't looked the same. On the pig being in its pen, have you walked over there? Have you walked by the trophies? I just walked by it. Do you ever feel how unique it is to have the jug, the pig, and the ax all at once? Yeah, it's unique. I think you've got to earn it. I think that's one thing about rivalries, you've got to earn it. When you walk by that trophy case and the bowl trophies once in a while, I don't really walk past it that often until I come into this room like once a week so you know garrett once in a while tells me hey stop look at that you know i'm like what are you talking about and then you look at it it's it's um you know it's i i think that you have to like at times just look and say and capture that moment and you're talking 50 years that hasn't had those in the same room so if it's older than me you stop and just kind of say well that's pretty cool and then you walk out and move on with your day you know but i i think you do have to look at that and be fulfilled at some point just to be like yeah that's pretty cool for this moment now it doesn't do anything for for the next you know six days or five days when we go play the defending national champions but that's why you come to a place like the university of Minnesota with all the rivalries and the tradition and the pageantry and the history that's why i love coaching here one of the many reasons because you get to play in those games and nothing better than when you're you know i get off the field pretty quick but when you're standing in that tunnel heather i stand in the tunnel under the overhang and we just look back and watch people i mean you got grown adults acting like children you have grandfathers and grandmothers acting like children you have children acting as children um what's the sports about brings the best out in us at times it brings that that pain and that heartache out in us but it's pretty cool when you walk by that you see the tradition that you're responsible for as players and coaches and uh and to see all all three of them in there it's uh it's good for now With Luke, how have you seen him kind of integrate himself into the program, joining so late? That's a great question. One of the most unique recruiting experiences I've ever had. I mean, literally, it was only a few hours, but it was in the middle of training camp, late at night. And here I am FaceTiming with this kid close to midnight. And I look at Garrett and I'm like, boy, recruiting's really changed. This kid could be joining us in a few hours if we can get this thing done. And there's a lot of things that have to get done before we just have a guy commit and show up. So our administration deserves a lot of credit for getting that done very quickly and turning that over very quickly. Dusty and Mark and Garrett, our GM, and then Marcus Hendrickson, our director of player personnel, how fast in DDP, how fast we got that turned over. And it's never that we offer the guy the most money. It's never been that here. It never will be that here. It's the experience. It's the trust he has in DDP. It's our culture. It's, you know, finding out from other players what it's like. And they have to all do that in a short amount of time. But that was the most unique experience I've had. And then it just came down to trust. And he didn't know me. There's no time, consistency, and proof with me. But there was time, consistency, and proof with DDP. And him turning down things that he turned down to come here says a lot about him. I still remember one of the first days he got here. We are literally towards the end of training camp. So we have a senior night. And right before we break camp, all the seniors get a chance to do their senior speech and talk about their experience and whatever they want to say. And we get done with it. We're like, anybody else want to talk? And Luke raises his hand, comes down, stands in front of the entire team, says, listen, guys, I don't know you, you don't know me. I might be your kicker, so I figured you might want to know a little bit about me. And he goes, and just bleh, just for five minutes, just talked about his life. And he's not a big talker. So for him to do that was his outreach to the team and his vulnerability to the team, saying, listen, man, I've got to earn your trust really quick, but here's who I am, and I look forward to getting to know all of you. I mean, that's a pretty powerful position to be the kicker. You influence a lot, as you've seen. And it's about the people, and they embraced him right then because that took a lot of nerve and courage to get up in front of the entire team and found out a lot about him, that he'll be able to handle moments like that that he just did because of how he handled that situation. Your own wide receiver experience, what stands out to you about Marsh and Becker? Yeah, I don't know if I can relate much to them as a receiver because they're a lot bigger, stronger, faster, more athletic than I ever was. I don't know what that's like to be like that. But they're dynamic in their own ways. They can play down the field really big. They can play really small, right, in tight, confined spaces. They can make every catch. They can run every route in the route tree. They threaten you constantly with speed down the field vertically. They're loose-hipped. They've got great body control, great center of gravity. They're tremendous in contested catches. They've all made high-pressure situation catches. I mean, what do you want me to keep going, Will? I mean, they're two of the best in the country on one team. That's a luxury that they have, that they use, and they're very good in the run game too, which I don't think they get enough credit for, is how hard and how well they block on the perimeter, which allows all their dynamic backs to come shooting out on the second level and finish runs. So they're the defending national champions for a reason and the top five team in the country for a reason. What have you seen in Zach Harden? Obviously, I think maybe one of his best games on Saturday. I love this kid. I told you about this. We talked about this after what happened last year and talking in January. I said, don't worry, there's a kid that people are going to find out a lot about named Zach Harden, and he's got to go out and prove it. But he loves football. One thing I love about coaching our football team is win or lose, they love ball. They love the game. They love the camaraderie. They love the team. They love the locker room. They love the experience of football. Everything that it has to offer, the good, the bad, the ugly, the life lessons it teaches you, and we incorporate that. And Zach is a great example of that. He's a young player, but he's playing at a really high level because he's the first one in the building, last one to leave. He's committed to the process. He's an overachiever. He's never satisfied. And that's hard to find in really young players without all this proof. But he believes in himself. And I remember having a conversation with him really early in the winter Mike, I'm just telling you, this is going to be yours. He's like, I'll be ready for it. Don't you worry about that. And he's ready for his opportunity. You never know when it's going to come. And he's earned every bit of it. And it's so funny because I was doing the post-game press conference, not the press conference, but on the field. You're getting interviewed after people are storming the field. And they dragged me to different places because the camera wasn't there. It got caught up in the Floyd rush. But I'm looking straight across from me, like I'm doing with you, Ryan. and who is standing right in front of me is watching me is Zach Harden just jumping up and down just just giddy just jumping up now like listening to what I was saying like who cares go celebrate but he waited for that moment to to give me a huge hug when we were done and a great embrace on the field because uh you know you hear all the guys talk about it like we're gonna get it done and he was one of the defensive voices along with Anthony Smith we're gonna get this done at halftime Anthony Smith's at the front of the locker room dabbing and touching everybody high-fiving him and we got this in going into the locker room and that was i think anthony's best game i think it was his best uh game he's ever led and i think that rubs off on the younger guys where then all of a sudden you start seeing a young player like Zach Harden leading and then it's contagious and just really happy he's on our football team what do you like most about the way Joey Gerlach has been playing well, it's no surprise to us because we've watched Joey for years, grow up mature, um, you know, watched him with his diet, his nutrition, the strength conditioning program. He's always been a little bit of the King of the twos, you know, and it's always been like the weight part. And we had to build on, some guys have a harder time gaining weight than others. Um, and so you, that's a full commitment. Think about how many people out there are either gaining weight, losing weight, and you got to commit to a nutrition plan and dietitian and the way you eat and change all those things. It's very difficult for human beings to do that. And he's had to be committed to that for years to see what you're seeing now. So this is a direct byproduct of four years of dedication, overachieving mentality, perseverance. You'd know a lot more about him if he didn't tear his ACL last year. And overcoming adversity. This is what Row the Boat's all about. That's why I love the kid because everybody's like, wow, it's Joey Gerlach. We've seen it for years. But it's this maturation process. Everybody develops at a different time. Some guys can come in here and play as a true freshman. Some guys need years for that to happen. Some people it takes years for that to happen, then they get their opportunity, and then boom, adversity strikes and they get hurt, and then he's overcome that. But incredibly instinctual, fundamentally sound, smart, so smart. He's got great family, great parents, great support, and he fits with our team perfectly, and he's become a great leader because of how hard he works. he's not the most vocal guy but how he works then spreads to everyone else and uh just really proud of his progress and it's funny because you know the NFL scouts ask me all the time like who you got like give me give me a name that we don't know about that's not on this sheet and i said we got we got to talk about Joey Gerlach and we talked five minutes about him just because they have access from last year's stuff but he was hurt all year so they don't know about him as much so when you bring him up i'm like this guy's gonna make a roster this guy's gonna make a team and I'm just glad he's a part of you know our football team. He's he's having a great year What challenge does their defense give the Gopher offense? I think the question is like what don't they? Because I think you know they create an issue at every level. D-line is probably, I mean it's ranked the number one D-line in the country and I would back that up. We have faced I think out of the top five this is going to be our third I think up front defensive line. We're talking about Michigan, Iowa, and then you throw them in the mix um but this is they're they're they're really stout they're really big they're really athletic they roll a lot of guys and they all look and they're all that way their defensive ends are really big too um and so when you go to linebackers they're very fundamentally sound they all kind of remind me if you had like like like eight Mavericks right it's they they're all smart very instinctual understand you know the jones kid we recruited we know him very well um you know not to get graphic but i remember that when we were recruiting him his his dad sent me a photo and it's him taking a bite out of the heart of a deer his first deer he got how do you think i got to know all the stuff about your face um but it's that guy's tough and you can see that spread throughout the entire team plays everywhere and does everything then their back end is locked down i mean they do a tremendous job uh in what they do they swarm to the ball they get a lot of takeaways they're physical they're violent they disrupt everything and so they've played a lot of really good offenses and shut them down because they're so disruptive so we we've have we have a massive challenge ahead of us we've played some of the best defenses in the entire country and then that's will be said for as we keep moving forward too and that's just what a great challenge is we continue to to challenge ourselves to be better nuance uh from a wide receiver coaching perspective of what jalen smith was able to do on that broken player yeah you know it's we always have a saying like one play can't lose you a game right but one play can win you a game and both offenses right uh when you look at the defenses they were playing against the defenses were dominating the game but you never know when it's going to be a play that's not called that you have to create that wins you a game in that moment under the pressure of the situation with the clock running at 50 seconds Drake Lindsey who has worked on his body has worked on his mobility worked on his athleticism gets out of something where last year I think he probably goes down there, gets out of that, extends the play, Jalen's going across the actual field, puts his foot in the ground, works his scramble technique, finds a hole between two defenders, it's a 25-yard throw, dart right on his chest, and he doesn't mess around, catch puncture because he knew the situation. We just got to get in field goal range. So, I mean, perfectly executed, clock running, continuing to manage the clock from there of what we needed to do. Darius Taylor did a tremendous job at the very end, And we told him we need the ball in the middle of the field. We don't want to center it because we don't want to lose the yard or two from the quarterback. We want to go get yards, but we want this ball to end on the X in the middle of the field. And he did exactly that. So you talk about attention to detail within the fundamental of that scramble technique. Plugged into the scheme of the play, you could be anywhere on the field at any particular moment when that happens and what the rules are. Under the pressure of the situation, everyone executed it at that particular moment because it called, out of all those plays that happened it called for that moment to be executed the way it needed to be executed and they executed it and answered the bell and you just never know when it's going to be that play any more for coach all right thanks for being here bro the votes guy i'll go go first thanks